Events are taking place in France and the UK to mark the 80th anniversary of the Allied invasion of France
In Normandy, US President Joe Biden says the fight for Ukraine echoes the struggle for freedom on the beaches on D-Day
Earlier, King Charles talks of the "supreme test" of D-Day, and the generation that "did not flinch when the moment came to face that test"
Five years ago, 225 British veterans travelled to Normandy for commemorations – this year there were 23
On 6 June 1944, tens of thousands of soldiers landed on five beaches in Normandy, northern France
The landings were the start of the campaign to liberate Nazi-occupied north-western Europe
Image source, PA MediaAs you can see, the Prince of Wales (left) and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have arrived at the anniversary event on Southsea Common in Portsmouth.
You can watch our coverage by pressing Play at the top of the page - international viewers should press the second Play button.
Image source, AFPFrench President Emmanuel Macron has arrived at the event in Plumelec, Brittany
He is shaking hands with the dignitaries who have lined up to greet him, and will soon take his place at the ceremony to commemorate D-Day.
Katya Adler
Europe editor, reporting from Sainte-Marie-du-Mont
The star attraction in Normandy this week is certainly not world leaders. It’s the surviving D-Day veterans, the youngest of whom are now in their 90s.
Wherever they travel along the coast here, they’re feted, photographed and fawned over, especially by the locals.
In the town of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, which lays claim to being the first to be liberated by American troops, I met young mum Vanessa Foulon, queuing with her six-year-old son Ruben to get a D-Day commemoration cap signed by an American veteran.
Why is this so important to them, I asked. “Liberté,” she said simply. “They gave us our freedom.” And she burst into tears.
She’s brought Ruben here to learn about the sacrifices made by those who landed in France 80 years ago. “Are they heroes to you?” I asked him.
“Yes, real heros!” he replied, “Along with my uncle and grandpa!”
Nearby, 104-year-old veteran Steven Melnikoff is posing for selfies before taking part in march to commemorate veterans of all conflicts.
He served with the Maryland 29th Infantry Division and landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day, fought to capture Saint-Lô city and was wounded during the battle.
Image source, Marianne Baisnee/BBC
Ed Sault
Reporting from Portsmouth
The D-Day 80 stage
The main stage for the D-Day commemorations is in the middle of Southsea Common, near to the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. Originally erected to remember members of the Royal Navy who died in 1914-1918, it was extended following World War Two.
It looks out over the Solent strait, so any of the naval vessels leaving Portsmouth will sail past.
A total of 25,000 sailors have their names engraved on the memorial.
It is a fitting backdrop for the commemoration.
Ceremonies in Portsmouth and France to commemorate D-Day are starting.
UK viewers can watch the proceedings by pressing the Play button at the top of the page.
If you're following this story from abroad, press the second, smaller, Play button, for BBC News coverage of the story.
The ceremony in Portsmouth will be attended by King Charles III, Queen Camilla and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
US President Joe Biden is at the event in France.
Ed Sault
Reporting from Portsmouth
For residents of Portsmouth, the events on Southsea Common bring not only a sense of poignancy about what happened 80 years ago but one of pride as well.
The city's long association with the navy runs deep through many families in this corner of Hampshire, so many residents feel an emotional attachment to the commemorations.
There are multiple events happening in Portsmouth and Hampshire to mark the anniversary.
There are volunteers looking after school children and handing out Union Flags to them, and helping to organise the event as crowds begin to build.
Volunteers looking after children at the D-Day anniversary event in Portsmouth
Southsea Common is usually a waterfront open space frequented by families and visitors to the city. It is also near to where the D-Day Museum is located.
That is where Phil Baulf usually pitches his ice cream van, but today he's further down Clarence Esplanade.
He said: "Today is a wonderful and proud day for Portsmouth."
Navtej Johal
Midlands correspondent
What struck me most when listening to the D-Day veterans I’ve interviewed over the last few weeks was their incredible recall.
The fine detail in which they were able to recount events from 80 years ago - the weather, the precise timings, what they ate for breakfast.
It was as though those memories were from last week rather than the last century.
Not one of them described themselves as heroes, but each said he was “lucky”.
Les Marsh, 99, from Halesowen, who was a gunner, told me a story of how he returned to his slit trench after a few hours on guard duty to find that his beloved silk pillow - upon which he would’ve rested his weary head - had been blown to smithereens by a German shell.
None of them wanted to celebrate their achievements either.
Alfred Booker, a 97-year-old from Lichfield, who was an able seaman on Sword Beach on 6th June 1944, said it was “wrong” to celebrate D-Day because of the tragic loss of life suffered that day.
He said that if those who wish to celebrate had seen what he had seen then they would want to “sit somewhere quiet and forget about it”.
He sees today as a moment of remembrance and reflection.
As the number of those who were there that day dwindles over time, it was a privilege to hear what they still remember first-hand.
Katie Thompson
BBC News
Gunner and radio operator Les Marsh recalls passing over the Isle of Wight as he went over to Normandy from Portsmouth as a 19-year-old.
He says: “I remember someone saying, ‘there’s the Needles – take a good look at them as it might be the last time you see any part of England.”
Responsible for driving the vehicle off the landing craft, his first experience of combat was landing on Gold Beach in Normandy.
“I just had this feeling and thought ‘somehow I’m going to get through it’ and by golly I did.
“I thank my lucky stars for those airborne troops that prepared the landings well enough for us to land on. I was one of the lucky ones.
“You felt frightened to death but you daren’t show it. You were frightened to show it to your mates but they were all the same. We knew what happening, we knew what could happen and we were expecting it.”
The 99-year-old from Halesowen in the West Midlands says looking back, he wouldn’t have missed it.
“At the time I didn’t fancy it all but looking back now in hindsight, it’s something I wouldn’t want to ever go through again but something I wouldn’t have missed.
A lot has been written and reported about the D-Day landings but there are some lesser-known things about the invasion as well.
As early as 1942, the BBC launched a bogus appeal for photographs and postcards from the coast of Europe, from Norway to the Pyrenees.
It was in fact a way of gathering intelligence on suitable landing beaches.
Millions of photos ended up being sent to the War Office and, with the help of the French Resistance and air reconnaissance, military officials were able to target the best landing spots for D-Day.
Here's another fact - the officers organising the operation were also very particular about the timing of D-Day.
They wanted a full moon with a spring tide so they could land at dawn when the tide was about half way in - but those kind of conditions meant there were only a few days that could work.
They chose to invade on 5 June, but ended up delaying by 24 hours because of bad weather.
It was Group Captain James Martin Stagg who made the vital forecast and persuaded General Eisenhower to change the date.
For other things you may not know about the invasion click here.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe remains of the D-Day 'Mulberry' artificial harbour at Arromanches, Normandy
Image source, ReutersBiden was greeted by a guard on honour when he touched down in Paris
US President Joe Biden has arrived in France to commemorate the 80 years since Allied forces landed in German-occupied France during the Second World War.
He is expected to meet several European leaders during his five day visit, including Ukraine's President Zelensky.
Russia, despite being a key ally in the 1940s, has not been invited to the ceremonies.
Biden is expected to make a speech drawing parallels between the threat to Europe from Germany in the 1940s to the modern-day efforts to repel Russian forces from Ukraine.
Katie Thompson
BBC News
Alfie Booker still remembers the noises, smells and smoke from D-Day. The 97-year-old was a Royal Navy able seaman responsible for the ammunition on HMS Ramillies.
Aged 17 at the time, he says they didn’t know a lot because they weren’t told a lot other than “you’ll be action tomorrow”.
His battleship arrived at Sword Beach on the north-west coast of France that day.
“What we saw is the main thing that I can’t forget,” he says.
“All them young lads running and climbing up the beach to get out the way of the German machine guns firing everywhere, mowing them down, terrible. Shells dropping down, tearing people apart, legs, arms flying all over the place. Dreadful.
“You try to forget it all, you don’t want to know, you don’t want to remember all that but you can’t, it’s in you, you’ve got it there. You can’t do nothing about it. It’ll always be there.”
Mr Booker, from Lichfield, Staffordshire, says he doesn’t talk about it often but when he does he sheds a tear.
“What a way to go. Go out there, bang, dead,” he says.
“They better not be forgotten for what they did, what they went through. You can’t forget them, no way.”
Image source, .The D-Day landings, also known as the Normandy landings, saw troops from the UK, US, Canada and France attacking German forces on the coast of northern France on 6 June 1944.
It was the largest military naval, air and land operation ever attempted and marked the start of the campaign to liberate Nazi-occupied north-west Europe.
Up to 7,000 ships and landing craft were involved, delivering a total of 156,000 men to five beaches in the Normandy region of France.
Airborne troops were dropped behind enemy lines in the early hours of the day ahead of the main attack.
Though German military leaders had been expecting an invasion, they believed the initial attacks were only a diversionary tactic.
A deception plan meant they expected the main invasion further along the coast.
On D-Day alone, as many as 4,400 troops died from the combined allied forces.
Around 9,000 were wounded or missing.
Total German casualties on the day are not known, but are estimated as being between 4,000 and 9,000 men.
Thousands of French civilians also died.
Image source, ReutersVeterans standing behind a sand art installation of soldiers in Broadstairs
D-Day: Veterans honoured with RAF flypast on ferry to France
On Tuesday, an RAF fly-past honoured the D-Day veterans in Portsmouth and Normandy - watch the moment above.
Image source, PA MediaVeterans John Life and Donald Jones on Sword Beach in Normandy on Tuesday, as the RAF flew overhead
Ken Cooke was 18 when he was sent to fight in Normandy - he’d been neither on a boat nor on a beach before.
His 7th Battalion, The Green Howards, were among the first to land in France on D-Day.
“There were explosions every four or five seconds. You saw the flashes, the dust and smoke on the beach.
“I can’t explain, I don’t think anybody who was on that D-Day can explain the continuous noise, noise, noise.”
A month after landing Cooke suffered shrapnel wounds and was sent home. Doctors then discovered he was suffering from shell shock. For 30 years he didn’t speak about his experiences across the war - he does so now with children in schools.
“It’s up to them now to see that nothing like this happens again.”
Image source, PA MediaD-Day veterans Stan Ford (L), Alec Penstone (R) and Jim Grant (C) with the torch on Tuesday
Bill Johnston was just 21 when he landed at Gold Beach on D-Day. He was one of the first ashore and his unit pushed into France after the landings.
A few weeks into the invasion, he was blown into the air by a mortar shell. The explosion damaged his spine and he was unconscious for several days but went on to make a full recovery.
Looking back on his service Mr Johnston said: "It was something that had to be done and I was part of it. I was well trained for it.
"You did what you had to do and when the day arrived that was what it was like and you did it."
Bill Johnston
The King, Queen and Prince of Wales will join veterans in Portsmouth this morning, as events in the UK and France to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
The Normandy landings were the largest seaborne invasion in history, with troops from the UK, the USA, Canada, and France attacking German forces on the beaches at Normandy in northern France on 6 June, 1944. Allied troops departed from Portsmouth on 5 June.
On Tuesday, some D-Day veterans boarded a ferry from Portsmouth to Normandy once again, retracing their journey of 80 years ago.
Image source, PA MediaD-Day veteran Donald Jones on Sword Beach in Normandy on Tuesday